This animation was made in 1930 and LSD was discovered in 1938, so, it wasn´t about a bad trip or made on LSD... some people have imagination, get over it.
You know that even the cartoon "Family Guy" didn't even have shadows under their characters until the last two seasons. But here we have Fleischer Studios doing it in 1930. Mix that tiny bit of artisitc craft with the genius of their story writing, synchro work, and just general animation and we have a cartoon 80 years ahead of it's self.
Steal chicken= attacked by a plague of surreal and incredibly terrifying jazz demons who assault you and take you to hell. ...Why doesn't our justice system work like that? There would be much less crime. I wonder what the penalty for full blown murder is....
Good night! This is your finish brother! You're never going to get away! Oh no! Oh yeah! You'll never rob another hen-house! You've sinned and now you must ordain! Oh no! Oh yeah! We're going to pulverize you brother, You needed it! And scatter all your bones away! Chickens you used to steal! I don't steal no more! Craps you used to shoot! I don't shoot no more! Girls you used to chase! I don't chase no more. Get ready, brother! Your time has come! Stand up you sinner, we've got you at last! You can't get away, there's no time to pray, your finish is gonna be fast! Brother and sisters, come on get hot! We'll amputate your vodoyo and tie your bones in a knot! *scat solo* Brother you sure gonna get your face lifted! And a permanent shave! Ha! Ha! Ha! Where you want your body sent? Body? Huh! Ain't gonna be no body! Ha! Ha! Ha! You can't make any excuse So you'll quail in your boots 'Til we've picked up the noose Swing you sinners! For making chickens elope, You're at the end of your rope So just give up all hope Swing you sinners! *scat solo* We'll stretch you like a giraffe Maybe cut you in half Just to give us a laugh Swing you sinners! AAAAHHH!
I think "for making chickens elope" is actually "we'll make you chicken to lope" (= "we'll make you too scared to run away") obviously, a script would have existed at some point, but it was probably lost or thrown away a great many years ago
The Fleischer brothers were certainly ahead of their time. I'd like to think it's this particular cartoon that influenced such works as Courage the Cowardly Dog and Adventure Time
evilmidget you certainly don’t build foundation blocks on the top of buildings. “Ahead of their time” means they could still stand out as everyone else hadn’t caught on yet. Unlike today where no one can truly stand out anymore....
@@estelleagravante9698 Yeah, in the 30s the Fleischer style and Disney style were in competition, and the Disney style won out. So it wasn't until much later that people re-discovered the Fleischer style and used it as an influence on the cartoons they created.
A few items about this cartoon- The music used- When the cop chases Bimbo, you hear "Big Boot Dance" from William Henry Myddleton's 1901 composition DOWN SOUTH (An American Sketch). And when the lock eats the key and the tombstones start singing, you're listening to part of Rube Bloom's 1929 concert piece SONG OF THE BAYOU. (When the tombstones sing, "Goodbye, this is your finish", Bloom's lyrics were "Oh Lord, please take away the darkness, Oh Lord, please take away the rain...") And the rest of the cartoon parodies hit song "Sing You Sinners", a pseudo-spiritual from a long forgotten 1930 Paramount Pictures musical HONEY. About the animation- Shamus Culhane said that at the time the studio was about to start SWING YOU SINNERS, a bunch of the Fleischer's best animators broke their contracts and headed for the West Coast and Hollywood. In desperation, Dave Fleischer promoted a group of assistants and in-betweeners to animators, Culhane among them, who with Grim Natwicks guidence animated the cartoon. I've been able to identify some of the animators in SWING YOU SINNERS- Open scenes where Bimbo fights the chicken are by Grim Natwick. The cop chase is Willard Bowsky. The key eating gate and singing tombstones are Seymour Kneitel. The singing grave and the jewish ghost are Al Eugster. Bimbo stuck in the dirt and confronted with his sins are Shamus Culhane. First scenes in the haunted barn up to the scatting chicken spook, Rudolph Eggman. Scatting chicken spook, Shamus Culhane. The barn chasing Bimbo and pursuing hobgoblins, Grim Natwick. Long line of ghosts following BImbo, Rudolph Eggman. And Bimbo eaten by the skull, Grim Natwick. The rest of the animators are a guess. So far, nobody has been able to idenify the group singing and playing on the soundtrack. Some sources claim the soundtrack was a phonograph record Lou Fleischer bought at a music store. The Fleischers did use phonograph records as soundtracks- Talkartoons HOT DOG and WISE FLIES are two examples, along with BETTY BOOP M.D. But if this is true, no collector has yet found a copy of that record, so for the time being the SWING YOU SINNERS soundtrack is a mystery. And for cripes sake, people, you don't need to be stoned or drunk to use your imagination. When FANTASIA re re-released in 1970, the guys who animated on it were beseiged by eager hippies demanding to know what drugs they took while they were working on the film. Art Babbitt got so fed up being asked that question, he would reply "Yeah I was on drugs- Pepto Bismo and Ex Lax!"
@@jaywalker7363 I think so. These are special lyrics for ‘Sing, you Sinners!” that appear nowhere else. So they must have written them, then did as you say.
@@HooDatDonDar You have said that junior animators were pressed into service because of walkouts - maybe they also had some fun by forming an impromptu jazz band.
Right before the frog guy pops up, you can make out "You're at the end of your rope, so just give up hope, swing you sinners!" The ghost with the noose is saying "Brotha yo sure gonna get yo face lifted!" The first ghost that appears says "You'll never rob another hen house." and the mound of dirt next to him says "You've sinned and now you must ordain." When he enters the barn I can make out "Stand up you sinner! We got you at last!" I wish I could tell more, but I'm mostly at a loss myself
He wasn't punished simply for stealing chickens. Bimbo (the dog character) was a known troublemaker in Fleischer cartoons - viewers understood his in the time.
So far I managed to decipher the following lines (uncertanties are in *bold* or between asterisks, depending on YT formatting quirks). Any suggestions are strongly encouraged! . Good night, this is your *(visit?)* from us. You’ll never learn to get away. “Oh no!” “Oh yes!” You’ll never rob another hen-house! You’ve sinned, and now you must ordain. “Oh no.” “Oh yes.” *(We're gonna rise you),* brother. Ya needed it. *(You get to / Too scared to?)* [haul your bones away?]. . Chickens you used to steal- I don’t steal no more! Craps you used to shoot- I don’t shoot no more! Girls you used to chase- I don’t chase no more. Get ready, brother, your time has come! . Stand up you sinner, We’ve got you at last. You can’t get away, there’s no time to pray, Your finish is going to be fast. Brothers and sisters, Come on get hot. We’ll amputate your *[bottom, yo?]*, And tie your bones in a knot. . - Brother, you sure are gonna get your face lifted! - And a permanent shave! - Where you want your body *[set/sent]*? - Body? Huh! Ain’t gonna be no body! . You can’t take any excuse, *(Oh you've spoiled your roots, / Ballroom coiled you loose?)* *(Shall we take up?)* the noose? Swing you sinners! . We’ll make your chicken *[elope?]*, You’re at the end of your rope, So just give up *(a?)* hope, Swing you sinners! . We’ll stretch you like a giraffe, Maybe cut you in half, Just to give us a laugh, Swing you sinners!
Cartoons were very spiritual along time ago, almost like they were made for adults instead of children this cartoon and the initiation of bimbo were saying sooooo much
They were made for adults, it was made during one of the most trying times of the 1900s, people needed a quick laugh and a distraction from everything going on in the world
Harvey Rothman Seems to me, based on his voice and general appearance, he's a caricature of a Jew. I could be wrong, though, but it seems to point in that direction.
If anyone is wondering what's up with the "Jewish Ghost" at 3:27, it's a cartoon of Monroe Silver, a well known 1920's dialect comedian famous for 78rpm records such as "Cohen Phones to His Friend Levy", "Cohen Takes His Friend to the Opera" and others. He had a catch phrase, "Vot are you do-ink?"
What a great cartoon! I love all the creepy ghost and skeleton cartoons from this era, like Skeleton Dance and Mickey Mouse & the Mad Doctor. This one really stands apart for the wild imagery, you actually feel like you're going crazy yourself by the time the scatting frog shows up.
First time I watched this, I had it on mute. I'd expected the music to.be very somber. The music makes it seems less sad; just a little bit though. And I was expecting the skull thing to be slow and dramatic. When it ate.him all abruptly and unexpectedly, it took me a minute to process it, then go "...Holy.crap."
I seen a lot of fliescher cartoons with scary ghosts before, and this one is the best. In most any cartoon they they make their scary faces, their howls, dances, and fly around. But when one's chasing you around and slashing a razor at you; thats a mean ghost.
Myself I always think the Fleischer Brothers animation from the 1930s always had their own idiosyncrasies and little personal touches which I've always loved and were far more surreal and bizarre and had a twisted humor unlike say the Disney films which were coming out at the same time.
So that's why Chad & Jared mentioned this cartoon? 3:27 says it all. I wish Popeye wasn't the only Fleischer Studio cartoon I had the chance to watch when I was a kid in the 90s. Oh, well.
Ice I honestly doubt it. Awesome animation, a 3 hour orchestrated soundtrack. I think it'll stick. But if its fanbase turns out ANYTHING like Undertale's...
Ice Not by its fans thatonedrewguy Why should we even care if it has a bad fanbase? Just enjoy the game or don't. I still like Undertale, and barely even notice the fanbase - and I do notice isn't even the worst of it, from what I've heard. Just focus on whether you like the game or not.
Since i was i kid i always felt some kind of fear about this kind of cartoon, but some weird fear, the same sensation i had by staring at some Dali paintings: A crazy neverending land, filled with weird faces, a place where the habitants always smiled and danced and they would stare at you, and even if that looked like a party you couldn't feel less happy. Instead you felt scared but there is no way out, because there, the world just dont have and end.
David Lee Roth wrote the song " Sinners Swing ", after watching this cartoon on tv while writing lyrics for the Van Halen supersmash hit masterpiece album, " Fair Warning ", way back in 1981. History for all the wrong reasons. Trippy old cartoon
The cartoons from that time that people remember, you know how they were trying to make you feel and what they were going for- Little Lulu wants you to laugh. I have no idea what Bimbo is supposed to do or how I should feel. Bimbo simply is.
It makes a little more sense when you think about the context (this cartoon was made in the Great Depression). If you stole someone's chickens, that could mean causing them to starve. Also, if you went out for a night of gambling and came back with very little, you and your family would be in big trouble.
Anyone who thinks that cartoons were always for kids should watch this first. Not only is it surreal, it's pretty friggen morbid, too. And the animation is very well done, too.
I swear that only the first four seconds are sane. Everything afterwards is nothing but a spree of hallucinogenic terror. It IS a very interesting and well-done animated short I have to say but it's honestly one of the scariest films I've seen!
Three different parts of this influenced Cuphead, actually. The part with the house chasing after Bimbo was the inspiration for the part where that cake castle chased after Cuphead. Also the first ghost on the ghost train was influenced by the ghost at 3:01, particularly the hands.
I figured out the bit at the beginning, it's fairly close to the standard version: You sinners, drop everything Let that harmony ring Up to Heaven and sing Swing, you sinners Just wave your arms all about Let the Lord hear you shout Pour that music right out Swing, you sinners Whenever there's music The Devil kicks He don't allow music By the river Styx You're wicked and you're depraved And you've all misbehaved If you wanna be saved Swing, you sinners
Okay, this cartoon has nothing to do with drugs or a bad trip. This cartoon is about Bimbo( the dog in case you hadn't a clue) and how he was to be punished for his life of crime. He ran from the cop and eventually got locked inside the cemetery, where a legion of shrewd ghosts united to not only terrorize him for his life of crime and debauchery, but at some point to send him to hell for his sins. The creator of this, Fleischer Studios, was creative, and was attempting to teach children a lesson. Life is about choices, if you choose to do the wrong thing instead of the right, you shall pay for it. People should really stop assuming everything creative is about drugs. That's far from the truth. Don't come and preach that this animation is about drugs when you haven't a clue whether it's true or not. Because it's not. I'm also not Christian or Catholic so I'm not preaching about the lord, I'm just simply telling you what the cartoon was about. Thank you, for your time. Have a marvelous day!
Yes, they did add stuff as they went along. Shamus Culhane writes in TALKING ANIMALS AND OTHER PEOPLE about how this cartoon got a stronger response than the Eddie Cantor feature it played with. Shamus animated the crazy stuff at the end.
The comical toon horror Is actually well done, psychedelic, but damn the eternal torment Is a terrible belief, i can't think about that even as a joke. P.S. aren't some ghosts stereotypical?
No LSD possible, but I think cocaine was involved. The scat-singing frog near the end rubs his hands all over himself - I have heard a crawling sensation on the skin can be caused by over-use of the drug, and the rubbing tries to relieve it. Also, several other Fleischer cartoons reference cocaine use. This may well be the source of some of this trippy imagery. Wild and imaginative, but grim without let-up. No getting away, no hiding under the covers, no waking up and it's all a dream, he's just ****ed.
I just realized that it's not "Swing you, sinners!" like they're using swing as a curse word, oh no, it's "Swing, you sinners!" as though they'll hang them for stealing some chickens. 1930's were harsh, man! Going to hell for chickens!
No, it’s swing as in ‘play that music’ Whenever there’s music The devil kicks He don’t allow music Down his river Styx Gospel music, of course. You need to get saved. Too late for bimbo, tho.
The concept of "cartoons" being a juvenile medium started to be generated after Disney defined the "family fantasy" market. His successes based on this added to the labeling of animation being a children's fantasy medium. But as we know, animation is as broad a medium as live action films are.
I found a youtube video where the lyrics are sung intelligibly by Susan Hayward. The song seems to be about the power of music to help yourself feel better so you won't be as tempted to try to feel good by doing bad things. Verse: Brothers and sisters, now hear and obey: You can lose the blues whenever you choose, by singing your troubles away. Brothers and sisters, starting today: Get yourself a song and you'll get along, You'll chase all your worries away....
